


Closure

by thewishingdragon



Category: Heathers (1988), Heathers: The Musical - Murphy & O'Keefe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-21
Updated: 2018-01-21
Packaged: 2019-03-07 10:53:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13433211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thewishingdragon/pseuds/thewishingdragon
Summary: In which Heather Duke is a reporter interviewing Veronica Sawyer, who is widely believed to be the culprit behind the killings in Sherwood, Ohio.





	Closure

**Author's Note:**

  * For [abo_trash](https://archiveofourown.org/users/abo_trash/gifts).



> Special thanks to abo_trash for allowing me to use his idea for this fic!

When the assignment had first found itself on Heather Duke’s desk, her first thought had been “Absolutely fucking not.”

She honestly had no idea how her supervisor had found out that she knew Veronica Sawyer, but apparently he decided to have _her_ do the interview, given her, admittedly brief, friendship with her.

After Jason Dean blew himself up, the police only had Veronica to blame, and the Chandlers had used their considerable wealth to influence the outcome of the trial, which meant that Veronica was charged with, and subsequently convicted of, the murders of Heather Chandler, Kurt Kelly, and Ram Sweeney. Veronica hadn’t even tried to contest the charges in court. She’d accepted the sentence without complaint and that had been that.

So why the fuck did her supervisor want her to interview the woman who had killed one of her closest friends?

The answer, as it turned out, was “You knew the girl back when all this started. She’s more likely to talk to you than some idiot journalist with something to prove.”

Heather Duke, as luck would have it, was no longer an “idiot journalist with something to prove.” She’d managed to make a name for herself early on as a photojournalist, and had worked writing for a rather popular magazine for a short time. These days, however, she was a reporter, and, while she wasn’t quite used to being in front of the camera, she found she enjoyed her work. She took pride in being good at her job, but she absolutely _refused_ to interview Veronica Sawyer.

Or, she’d _tried_ to refuse, until her supervisor had told her that she’d be fired otherwise.

Which is how Heather Duke found herself back in Ohio with a camera crew.

She somehow hated it here _more_ than when she’d lived here. It was just as boring as it had been when she was in high school, only worse now that she knew what was going on right under her nose the whole time.

“Right,” She muttered, “First thing’s first. Go to the prison, set up an interview, get the hell out of dodge as quickly as possible.”

* * *

 The prison was just as bad as Heather expected.

The camera crew was in high spirits despite the situation.

“At least setting up the interview went smoother than expected,” one of them had remarked, “I’ve heard she doesn’t talk to reporters.”

“Or if she does, it’s just to tell them to leave her alone,” another said from where he was setting up the lights.

Heather looked up at the sound of the door opening.

Veronica Sawyer stood in the doorway flanked by two guards who escorted her to the chair across from the one where Heather sat. As soon as she was seated, they moved to stand by the door.

 _Just in case_ , Heather figured.

“It’s good to see you again.”

Heather’s eyes widened.

“I wish it could have been under better circumstances,” Veronica sighed, “But I am glad to see you.”

“I’d like to get this over with as soon as I can,” Heather said, ignoring the eyes of her camera crew, “So I would appreciate it if you’d keep the unnecessary chatter to a minimum.”

She heard a chuckle from the chair. “Of course.”

Heather nodded, looking back at the questions she’d prepared.

* * *

 “So,” Heather began, stubbornly avoiding eye contact, “You were instrumental in the series of incidents known in Sherwood, Ohio as the “Westerburg Suicides,” is that correct?”

“Yes. That’s correct.”

“And you stated in your official testimony that the mastermind behind these killings was Jason Dean?”

“Yes.”

Heather frowned. “What I don’t understand is why you say that Jason Dean was the mastermind when you already accepted full responsibility for all of the crimes that _he_ allegedly was responsible for.”

Veronica paused, but when Heather looked up, she didn’t look surprised at the question. Rather, she looked contemplative.

“I… gave him everything he needed to go through with it.”

“How so?”

“I gave him the opportunity, and I gave him my trust. I believed him when he gave me no reason to do so. I didn’t stop him once I realized what was actually going on, and by then it was too late. It’s as much my fault as it was his.”

“And you honestly believe that he wouldn’t have gone through with his plan if you hadn’t helped him?”

Veronica sighed. “He was… angry, I suppose. He was angry at the world, and he wanted revenge. If I hadn’t helped him get away with killing Heather Chandler, he wouldn’t have gone as far as he did.”

“Why is that?”

“He didn’t have a plan at first. He just filled a mug with drain cleaner and joked about it. He wouldn’t have actually gone through with it if I hadn’t been so easily manipulated.”

“What do you mean?”

“He… distracted me. And by the time I realized I had picked up the wrong mug, Heather Chandler was already dead.”

“You seem to remember the event well.”

Veronica looked up then, and Heather was surprised at how _empty_ her eyes were.

“Watching someone die isn’t something you forget easily.”

Heather cleared her throat nervously. “Okay. What about Kurt Kelly and Ram Sweeney? You admitted to shooting them.”

“I shot _at_ him. Kurt, I mean. I missed, but J.D. didn’t.”

“So _he_ shot them? Both of them?”

“Yes.”

“And you didn’t realize what was going on?”

Veronica frowned. “I know it either sounds like I’m a liar or I’m extremely gullible, but he told me that the bullets were fake.”

“And you believed him?”

“I did.”

“Why did he kill them?”

“Because I wouldn’t let him hurt Heather McNamara.”

Heather’s eyes widened at that. “He was going to kill her?”

“That was his plan. I told him I didn’t want to kill anyone, so he said we wouldn’t. He said that we would just trick Kurt and Ram and we’d humiliate them to get revenge for them spreading rumors about me.”

“That sounds like you would have more of a motive for killing them than he would.”

“It does, but I think maybe, at that point, he just wanted them both dead, so he convinced me it was for my benefit.”

“And you let him?”

“I… I _wanted_ to trust him. I wanted to believe he was good. But he wasn’t.”

“And then he tried to blow up the school during a pep rally?”

“Yes.”

“And that’s when you finally stopped him?”

“Yes. I managed to disable the bomb. I don’t know how. All I know is that, one second, it’s counting down, and the next, it’s stopped.”

“What happened after that?”

“I walked out of the building. He followed me. He’d strapped the bomb to his chest and told me I won. Then he blew himself up.”

Heather frowned. “Why?”

“I don’t know.”

“Do you have any idea what his motive might have been?”

“Justice, maybe.”

“Justice.”

Veronica nodded. “He… he said that Heather and Kurt and Ram were all part of a corrupt system. He wanted, or, at least, he _thought_ he wanted to fix things. In his own way, he thought he was doing the right thing. And he was willing to do whatever he had to in order to have justice.”

“What do you mean?”

“The night before he tried to blow up the school,” Veronica sighed, “He had my parents deliver a message for him. He’d managed to forge my handwriting for a suicide note. I ran upstairs before he snuck into my room through the window. I had pretended to hang myself using my bed sheets as a noose. I wrapped part of it around my waist before I wrapped it around my neck, and when he saw me, he told me he had planned to kill me, but before he did, he was going to try to get me to understand his plan.”

Heather’s eyes widened. This had never been mentioned in Veronica’s testimony.

“He told me about a petition he tricked every student in school into signing.”

Heather frowned.

“It turned out he planned to use it as a mass suicide note. He was going to plant it in the rubble so nobody would know that he was the culprit.”

Heather felt her face flush with guilt. Thank god she was wearing makeup.

“You could have gone to the police.”

“They wouldn’t have taken me seriously. Nobody at school did.”

Heather remembered. Veronica had tried to warn her. She hadn’t listened.

“So you did manage to stop him.”

Veronica shrugged. “Eventually. But three people died before I managed it.”

Heather frowned. One part of the story still didn’t make sense. “If you never really killed anyone, why did you take responsibility?”

“It’s my fault. Even if I’m not the one who put it all together, I’m still the one who allowed it to happen.”

Heather wanted to yell. To scream that if Veronica was guilty for not seeing the signs then so was she, but she stayed silent.

The camera crew announced that they’d stopped rolling, and Heather breathed a sigh of relief, glad to be done.

“Are you alright?”

Heather looked up in surprise. Veronica looked worried.

“Yeah. Yeah, just… that was a lot, you know?”

Veronica nodded. “I don’t usually talk to reporters, you know.”

“So I’ve heard.”

“I just… when I heard you wanted to interview me, I decided I couldn’t really refuse.”

“Why not?”

Veronica shrugged. “I figured… at the very least, I should give you and Heather closure. If anyone deserved to know the truth, it would be you two.”

Heather frowned. “I didn’t know what the petition was really for.”

Veronica smiled. “I know. It’s okay. You didn’t do anything wrong. He was just too good at telling people what they wanted to hear.”

With that the pair of guards approached, and Veronica stood.

“Well Ms. Duke,” she said, holding out a hand, “It was nice talking to you.”

Heather smirked as she shook Veronica’s hand, before Veronica was led back out the door.


End file.
